The Weekly Ringer

The University of Mary Washington Student Newspaper

UMW professors and students significantly influence the lives of women and children in Guatemala

3 min read
By SARAH GRAMMER Associate professor of geography Dr. Dawn Bowen and members of her Grassroots Development class are hoping to make a difference in the lives of the rural indigenous women of Guatemala.

University Relations

By SARAH GRAMMER

Associate professor of geography Dr. Dawn Bowen and members of her Grassroots Development class are hoping to make a difference in the lives of the rural indigenous women of Guatemala. The group is fundraising to donate an electric turbine for the Community Cloud Forest Conservation in Cobán, Guatemala.

The turbine will provide electricity for the community and the CCFC’s new agroecology center. The goal of the fundraiser was to reach $6000  beginning in March. In 22 days, the class has managed to raise $6,255 on their GoFundMe page.

While the class has succeeded in fundraising, Brown remains focused on what she thinks is a larger problem.

“The larger issue is educating young people, women in particular, of the importance of being good stewards of the environment, improving nutrition, and becoming leaders in their communities,” Bowen said.

The agroecology center’s purpose is to educate women and children about the environment and sustainable farming practices. The women are taught in a 25 day program where they study day and night at the agroecology center. Children may only stay for a few days at a time.

Senior geography major Scott Phillips was in Bowen’s class and traveled to Cobán to work with the women and children there. Phillips assisted his classmates in creating a video about the CCFC and the people involved in its program and learned firsthand in Guatemala why the need for education is so important.

“The turbine does much more than power a building,” Phillips said. “It provides kids the opportunity to learn more, the power will be used for light, for computers, and projectors, things that will 100 percent  benefit the women and kids education. So investing in the turbine is really investing in education in Guatemala.”

The majority of Guatemala’s population is under the age of 19, causing many children to have to leave school and work in order to feed their families. Many women and children are missing out on the opportunity for education because it is expensive and the parents cannot afford to send them. This hurts Guatemala because an educated person has much to offer the country, according to Bowen.

“An educated woman makes a huge difference in her community,” Bowen said, “she becomes a leader.  Educated women are better mothers and are more concerned with improving nutrition and sending their children to school.”

According to Bowen, malnutrition is a major issue among children in Guatemala because people are not getting a proper education in agriculture. If women and children can be further educated in farming practices, then they can produce food for themselves that will help combat malnutrition.

In Guatemala, the class was able to experience everyday life with the indigenous people, which made them realize how important the issue of education is.

Phillips, for example was inspired by a 9-year-old boy named Ronaldo.

“Seeing where Ronaldo lived, staying with him for two nights and seeing the conditions of his life made me want to intervene,” Phillips said, “Ronaldo and these kids deserve so much more, and at the least, they deserve a good education and the opportunities to define their own futures.”

In reference to the students’ experiences, Bowen said, “I have been told repeatedly that this trip changes their lives.”

“The indigenous Q’eqch’I of Guatemala found joy in the simplest of things, which made me realize often the rich are poor and the poor are rich,” Phillips said.

46 thoughts on “UMW professors and students significantly influence the lives of women and children in Guatemala

  1. Right now it appears like Drupal is the preferred blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?

  2. są życzliwe wprowadzić pełnię próśb matrymonialnych, sumując spośród bliskimi, gdyby oczekują że mianowanie się na nie doniesie im ustaloną korzyść. Stanowią szczególnie przewrotne plus jeśliby właśnie niniejsze umiem przyłapać – niewzruszone. W 4 epizodach na 5 obrazowo zajęte utrzymaniem prawodawstw do uzbieranego inwentarzu.

  3. I believe everything published made a lot of sense. But, what about this? what if you added a little information? I mean, I don’t want to tell you how to run your website, but what if you added a title to possibly get people’s attention? I mean UMW professors and students significantly influence the lives of women and children in Guatemala is a little plain. You ought to glance at Yahoo’s home page and see how they create post titles to grab viewers to click. You might try adding a video or a related picture or two to get people interested about what you’ve got to say. In my opinion, it could bring your website a little bit more interesting.

  4. są uległe wyrazić pełnię wywołaj weselnych, sumując spośród serdecznymi, jeśli sądzą iż zadanie się na nie sprowadzi im oszacowaną dogodność. Stanowią zauważalnie skąpe oraz skoro właśnie współczesne umiem omotać – surowe. W 4 epizodach na 5 zrozumiale zainteresowane ustrzeżeniem pozwoleń do zbitego dobrobycie.

  5. Hi there to every body, it’s my first pay a visit of this website; this website carries amazing and genuinely good information for visitors.

  6. My brother recommended I would possibly like this blog. He was entirely right. This post truly made my day. You cann’t imagine simply how a lot time I had spent for this information! Thanks!

  7. Awesome issues here. I’m very glad to look your post. Thank you a lot and I am taking a look ahead to touch you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?

  8. If Bott & Co are acting on your behalf we will go to all hearings on your behalf and there will certainly be no requirement for you to go to any hearings.

  9. My advice is make the claim, do not see and bank the cheque what occurs. If they fail to pay refer them to the CAA as per the treatments.

  10. Hi, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, wonderful blog!

  11. Hi there I am so grateful I found your blog, I really found you by mistake, while I was searching on Bing for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a fantastic post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the awesome jo.

  12. then please most people be careful not disorder before after as being a diligent maintenance reciting “Amitabha Buddha” the rebirth from the West Handmade Kitchen company north however, you can expect a large amount of time spent with this process, as you may be forced to stand inside the line for many hours.

  13. Hello there, I do think your site could possibly be having web browser compatibility problems. When I take a look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however, if opening in Internet Explorer, it’s got some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Besides that, great website!

  14. What’s up to every one, the contents present at this web page are really awesome for people experience, well, keep up the nice work fellows.

  15. It’s appropriate time to make a few plans for the long run and it’s time to be happy. I’ve learn this post and if I could I want to counsel you few attention-grabbing issues or advice. Perhaps you could write subsequent articles referring to this article. I want to read even more things about it!

  16. Greetings! I’ve been reading your weblog for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Austin Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the great job!

  17. I’m amazed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The issue is something too few people are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy I stumbled across this in my hunt for something relating to this.

  18. As a business owner, this presents a couple of options. Then, once published, promote them through your social media outlets to widen your audience. because this can give you an insight about a client’s experience with a particular SEO company.

  19. SHIPTRONITE offers an assisted purchase service that enables you to purchase items from EU websites without having a EU credit card. Also make sure that the SEO Company you hire they have skilled professionals and understanding the current Google updates and that is one of the most crucial factors to beat the competitor for higher ranking in search engines. because this can give you an insight about a client’s experience with a particular SEO company.

Comments are closed.